What does Tribe teach about feeling ignored by god?
Drawn from the message where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on feeling ignored by God starts with an honest look at what that experience actually feels like, using a story where Jesus appears to do exactly that. In Matthew 15:21-28, a Canaanite woman comes to Jesus desperate for her daughter's healing, and He ignores her, tells His disciples she is bothering them, and then compares her to a dog. Brian walked the congregation through that story and asked them to sit with the offense before rushing past it, because the surface-level shock is the point of entry into something deeper.
What Brian kept returning to is what the woman was doing underneath all of that. Before Jesus said anything, she had already named Him correctly, calling Him 'Son of David,' a title for the Messiah. A Gentile woman, outside Israel, confessed who He was while crowds inside Israel pressed around Him out of curiosity or desire for miracles. Jesus heard a declaration of faith where His disciples heard an annoyance. Brian says, "Jesus wasn't insulting her identity by calling her a dog. He was creating a moment to demonstrate her devotion." The silence and the pushback were not rejection. They were a stage being set.
For anyone sitting with the feeling that God is not listening, the teaching here is that the feeling of being ignored does not mean you are being dismissed. This woman was not turned away. She was being drawn out. Her persistence was not wearing Jesus down; it was revealing what was already in her. The moment that looked most like abandonment turned out to be the moment her faith was most clearly on display.
Taught from Matthew 15:21-28 · Luke 9 · John 14
“Jesus wasn't insulting her identity by calling her a dog. He was creating a moment to demonstrate her devotion.”
From You Can't Say That About Women, Jesus
The passage taught · John 14
1 “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.
3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.
4 Where I go, you know, and you know the way.”
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- August 23, 2026 You Can't Say That About Women, Jesus A Canaanite woman refuses to be dismissed, and Jesus calls it great faith. Brian Hunter looks at what Jesus really meant when he said things that would get him canceled.